You’ve just decided to invest in your great idea. From the comfort of your home, you’ve decided that it’s time to build something for yourself, for your hobbies and for the world to recognise your talents.

It might be your creative strength, it might be your witty abilities to compile brilliance in finance. Whatever it is, it’s time to monetize on what you do out of love and really ramp up your personal gains, all in your spare time.

So where to from here?

In this day and age, there are only a few idea machines - and you are one of them. You’ve been slaving away at your nine to five only to have set out a plan to invest your hard earned money in the person that matters most - you.

So how do you do it? How do you monetise on the little things that can add up to a big thing? The answer : Get yourself started online.

Get started with the research of your competitors and what they offer. What makes you stand out - and how to tackle the beast that is the online market. There’s always room for a newbie and it’s time to capitalize on your ideas by ensuring you know your competitors inside and out.

Build an Online Store

So you’ve done your homework, you’ve done the research and you’ve started facilitating your needs. It’s all down to the build now. There are 3 key investments to look into when you start your online store - Cost to Build, Cost to Maintain & the Cost to Improve. Budget each accordingly and ensure that the first step is the most important step. Getting started can be a hassle but it’s worth the effort to get yourself securely off the ground.

There are so many ways to build an online store. You could establish an independent store with a custom management system that’s just right for you - or on tighter budgets, you could get started with established systems like Wordpress, Magento, Squarespace or Shopify. The resources are there and with literally millions of freelance web developers online there comes nothing short but for you to just say yes to your idea.

Make sure it’s Mobile Responsive

Did you know in July 2015, **80% of web surfers are on mobile devices like iPhone, Google Android devices or Windows phones? It’s time to get with the modern age and ensure your business is secured for the future. Mobile web surfing is dominating the internet and it’s not going anywhere but up.

Make sure it’s easy to buy

We love you. We really do, and to nurture your earnings you want to ensure that it’s simple to buy from your website. Don’t clutter your products by over-informing - have just enough information to entice the purchase and make it 3 simple steps that anyone could identify.

“Add to Cart, Checkout & Payment.” We recommend the use of PayPal to cross over billing/shipping addresses easily as well as your standard Credit Card Payments. SSL is essential to any business, that is - encrypted purchasing for security and earning consumer trust when purchasing from you.

Make sure your customers come back

They will love what you’ve produced for them. It’s just right and it’s time to ensure that they remember you for all your hard efforts. Add little details like email opt-ins, subscription to your newsletters - anything to establish a two way communication between yourself and your customers. Don’t let your most valuable asset be churned and burned, take the small steps to give yourself the bigger picture - a self maintaining database of returning customers eager for more.

Never stop investing

It’s been 11 years since facebook started in 2004 and what’s changed? A little design here, a BIG overhaul there - integration of new features like a standalone messenger, All of which would have come at a cost percentage of their research and development.

Invest in time to listen to what your customers want - to provide them with what they need. Do they want another color choice for their partner? Give them the option they need.

Invest in your community and they will return.

By investing in the continual development to improve your store, improve your products, improve your presence and reach. People need to hear about you just as much as you need to hear about them and the best way to do this - Search Engine Optimization. It’s the key component, the secret to the recipe of online success. Remember how we discussed about making the transition of searches to purchases? A client returning is the final step, purchasing was the middle step - discovering you was the first step and this is where it counts. So get started and be discovered.

Freelancer.com is the world's largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and projects.
We connect over 23,440,868 employers and freelancers globally from over 247 countries, regions and territories.
Through our marketplace, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, writing, data entry and design right through to engineering, the ...

Need work done?

Millions of small businesses use Freelancer to turn their ideas into reality. Need to get work done?